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While governments and corporations have sunk millions of dollars in educating the world about HIV/AIDS, one Pittsburgher, Justin Forzano, has led the Cameroon Football Development Program (CFDP) to apply a different kind of prevention: education through soccer clubs.

We have all heard of the benefits of participating in team sports: teamwork, leadership skills, and self-confidence. Combine those benefits with group discussions and mentoring opportunities and you have a strong strategy to making an impact on a country that has been heavily affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Cameroon Football Development Program was founded in Spring 2010 by Peter Ngwane and Justin Forzano. Although an uncommon approach, bringing something as natural as soccer together with something so practical, like disease prevention, has had a huge impact on the community of Kumba, Cameroon. Like many developing countries, Cameroon suffers from a variety of issues like corruption, poverty, the implications of its colonial history and a strong nationwide desire to “get out” and find better opportunities. This exodus of talent is known as “brain drain,” the flight of able, intelligent youth in search of better opportunities abroad. The communities left behind deal with skill gaps, fragmentation within their community, and create the right conditions for significant community decline. CFDP’s model is designed to change all of that.

Through partnering with local volunteers and identifying key community leaders, CFDP works with Kumba to provide a variety of programs: Leadership Training, After School Programs, a Youth League, and Girls Soccer Camps, in addition to a variety of special events. This year alone, they have involved over 500 youths in the area and engaged with regional organizations like United Action for Children, Play Soccer International, to expand their programs to other regions of the country.

But how does an engineering student from the University of Dayton get involved with helping the community of Kumba in distant Africa? It all started with a summer study abroad trip with his professor and a deep love for soccer. “From the first time I visited Kumba, I fell in love with Cameroon. The people, the culture, the food, the music and the importance of soccer.” Justin’s first visit to Cameroon demonstrated to him just how the United States has such excess, especially when it came to equipment for sports. “We were playing a game of football (soccer) on a dirt field and the locals were either sharing boots, playing with flip flops, or even without shoes. In the U.S. we just throw away these things even if they are in good shape.” Dealing with such an impression, Justin began asking how to connect those in Cameroon with those who have excess equipment in the United States. The following summer, Justin went back with a full set of jerseys and was met with wild enthusiasm in Kumba. Five years later, the set is still intact and is being passed around from club to club.

What can be the most complicated obstacle for start-up nonprofits; can be making the link between the local community and the recipient community. CFDP overcomes this obstacle by sticking to their mainstay: soccer. On the first weekend of August, they kicked off their fall season of Pittsburgh based fundraising events with a soccer tournament at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of learning lawn. With 9 teams participating, CFDP not only organized a fun Sunday tournament, but involved the local Cameroonian-American and African-American communities with kicking off the event with a drumming performance and authentic Cameroonian food.

Even if you were not able to attend their soccer tournament, CFDP has a variety of ways in which you can get involved. Whether it is sponsoring a team or participating in the Play for a Purpose program, check out http://www.cameroonfdp.com/ or follow them @CameroonFDP.